This Stays Between You and Me
by sincerelymendacious
Summary: Elka gets caught watching a movie she's not supposed to.


This fic contains spoilers for _The Deadzone,_ a thirty-five year old movie. Special thanks goes out to Headsplit, who helped me with That One Sentence.

* * *

"It's worth a-"

Sheriff Bannerman was interrupted by the sudden switching off of the television, the action prompted by a soft creak coming from the direction of the stairs. Elka turned her head towards the living room entrance, her fingers hovering over the T.V.'s power button, listening closely for the sounds of footsteps. If there was someone coming down here, Elka hoped that it was her mother- Elka had preemptively gone invisible the second she had heard the noise so she couldn't actually be seen, but Father would have been able to sense her sitting there in front of the T.V.

Thankfully, nothing else was heard after a few seconds, leading Elka to believe that it had only been her imagination. She reappeared and turned the T.V. back on, rewinding the tape back a few seconds. She then sat back, resting her hands on her knees as the Sheriff exited the car and headed over to the Smith residence. Sitting this close to the T.V. was pretty uncomfortable (Mom always told her not to do it) but Elka really didn't have any choice but to do so. Her parents were sleeping upstairs, and she couldn't risk waking them up by having the volume up too loud.

Despite that minor inconvenience, Elka was enjoying the _The Deadzone,_ at least so far. She was only twenty-five minutes into the movie, but she was starting to see why she so often discovered her father watching it late at night on his own. Her heart went out to Johnny- the love of his life had moved on without him (and they had been such a lovely couple!), he had had a long, difficult recovery from his injuries, and then his mother died. And the press conference scene had been just awful! The reporter who had kept pestering Johnny to use his powers had reminded Elka of the people who would ask her or her father to predict their future for them, as though it were some sort of party-trick.

Like the reporter, they were quick to regret it.

 _At least I don't have a vision every time I touch someone,_ Elka thought as the Sheriff introduced himself to the Smiths. Ugh, that would be terrible- she'd never be able to hold Nils' hand, lest she risk bearing witness to whatever sexist garbage he planned on viewing in the future.

Apparently, the Sheriff had stopped by the Smiths to request Johnny's help in catching the Castle Rock Killer. Johnny was understandably reluctant to get involved. Elka couldn't blame him. Most of her visions didn't involve death- just general misfortune- but she would never forget the day she'd seen that poor little puppy get its head smashed by a speeding truck. Witnessing a human get horribly murdered must be a thousand times worse.

Johnny must have agreed, as he was quick to turn the Sheriff down. Bannerman was understandably disappointed, and Elka sympathized with him too. He immediately lost her sympathy when he stated that God had seen fit to give Johnny a gift, and that Johnny should use it for that reason.

That just set Johnny right off. He began to furiously recount every single thing that God had taken from him in exchange for this 'gift'. The scene was riveting, and not just because of the performances. She grasped the white fabric of her nightgown, her eyes glued to the screen. Anger and satisfaction mingled within her- she was angry at the Sheriff for saying something so ignorant, and satisfied that Johnny wasn't letting him get away with it. A smile twitched onto her lips as Johnny turned away, his rant over. She didn't need precognitive abilities to know that Johnny would eventually get wrapped up in this case, but for now she was happy that he had stood up for himself, that he hadn't allowed himself to be used.

"That scene is one of my favorites."

Elka shot forward, slamming her finger on the power button. The action was rather pointless, as it was obvious that her father had been standing in the living room doorway for quite some time. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. Elka stared back up at him, more embarrassed at being caught doing something she wasn't supposed to than worried about what her punishment would be. There might not even be one. Her father was more likely to send her back to bed than to ground her for watching one of the Forbidden Films. "Um, sorry," she said sheepishly, feeling as though she should at least put on a show of remorse. "Did I wake you up?"

The corners of Dad's mouth twitched upwards and he uncrossed his arms, putting his hands in his robe pockets. "Don't be sorry," he said lightly as he walked over to the couch. They way he walked, the slow, long-legged gait, made her think of Johnny Smith (without the limp, of course). "And no, I wasn't asleep." He sat down on the couch, the vinyl furniture protector Mother put over top of it squeaking. "I knew that you would be down here around this time."

Elka said nothing, taking a moment to absorb that information. Dad had had a vision of her watching this film, probably this morning, hours before the idea of doing so had even occurred to her. He could have easily prevented her from seeing this movie by hiding the VHS tape in a place that Elka could not get to. Since it had been right on the shelf where it always was, Elka concluded that her father hadn't wanted to stop her. But why had he come down here then, instead of just letting her watch it?

It would probably be easier just to ask rather than attempt to figure it out in her head and let the silence continue. "So…am I in trouble?" she asked, idly rolling a loose thread that had come off of her night gown between her fingers.

Dad chuckled, running a hand through his thinning blond hair. "No, you aren't," he said, smiling, the corners of his eyes crinkling. Again, she was reminded of Johnny- Dad's eyes were a deeper shade of blue, but the lines underneath them and the weariness within them were nearly the same. "I am, however, curious." He gestured at the television set. "What made you want to sneak down here to watch a boring-old movie like this?" he asked, pointing towards the shelf that contained all of her favorite films. "It's not exactly your usual fare, princess."

"It's not boring," Elka argued, almost offended on the movie's behalf. And it wasn't; not even _Pride & Prejudice_ had captured her attention quite like _The Deadzone_ had. As for the answer to his question… "Sometimes, when I go downstairs at night, I see you watching it," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I just wanted to know why you liked it so much."

There were a number of VHS tapes and DVDs on Dad's shelf, more than on her mother's or her own, but this film was the only one she had caught him viewing more than once. It didn't escape her that the nights he stayed up were the same nights where he was quieter at the dinner table, where his shoulders were a little more slumped, where the tone he used while reporting a yet-to-be fallen woe to Mom sounded more worn-out and resigned. He always looked so sad, sitting by himself on the couch and Elka had wondered why he would watch a movie that made him look like that again and again.

It seemed that her response to his question had not been in his prediction, judging from the way that his eyebrows had shot up in surprise. Had he assumed she was doing this for the novelty of viewing an R-rated film? Elka narrowed her eyes at the thought. Surely her father would know that she was more mature than that.

Her annoyance dissipated when she saw Dad's expression melt into something more affectionate and soft. He patted the spot next to him with one hand and picked up the remote with the other. "How about we watch the rest of it together?" he offered warmly. "Come over here, you shouldn't sit so close to the television."

Elka hesitated, casting a quick glance towards the stairs. "What about Mom?" If she came down and saw that Dad was allowing her to break a rule, they'd both be in hot water.

Dad waved his hand dismissively. "Your mother could sleep through the earthquake that's going to hit Pasadena next week," he replied as he turned the T.V. back on. Behind her, she heard the voice of Johnny's father increase in volume. "She won't wake up."

Concerns eased, Elka rose and joined her father on the couch, sitting down in the middle seat close to him. "Do you want to start over from the beginning?"

"We don't have to," Dad said, rewinding the film back a few minutes. He went back further than where Elka had left off, going back to before Johnny had confronted the Sheriff. Elka let it slide, supposing that he must like the scene as much as she did.

He hit pause when he got to the part he wanted to start at. "I have one stipulation," he said sternly, looking down at her. "There's some content in this movie that's not appropriate at all for a girl your age. If I tell you to cover your eyes, you better do it."

Elka opened her mouth to protest, then reconsidered and closed it. While she doubted that there was anything too salacious in this film (her father was not the sort of man who would enjoy watching such things), it was rated R, and likely for a reason. She nodded her head in agreement, deciding that she would only make a fuss if it seemed like Dad was censoring too much. "That's fine. And you have to promise not to spoil the ending."

Dad laughed as he unpaused the film. "Fair enough."


End file.
